Track Specs: 2.66-mile oval / 94 laps
Conti’s finish: 8th
Davies’ finish: 11th
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 1, 2020) – Brad Davies needed a victory or some significant help to reach the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Playoffs on Tuesday night at the virtual Talladega Superspeedway, but unfortunately for the Florida native, neither was in the offing. Michael Conti, already locked into the postseason, finished an uneventful eighth in the event to start the playoffs on a high note. (Watch the full race.)
Davies qualified his No. 88 TrueTimber® Camo Chevrolet in 12th for the 94-lap event on the big, fast Alabama virtual oval, needing to overcome a 32-point deficit to the final playoff position. Doing so would mean a victory or bad luck from the five drivers ahead of him in line.
Keeping that in mind, Davies hung back in the early stages only to find out that the draft was taking him farther forward than he realized. After the first round of green-flag pit stops, Davies turned up the wick and made a charge toward the front. Running on the bottom, Davies stalled out in the pack and could no longer push forward.
On the final pit stop, Davies took a splash of fuel only and stayed in the lead serial. A small accident involving a lapped car brought out the yellow flag with eight laps remaining, which set up a four-lap rumble for the finish. The pack stayed glued together over that distance and Davies was unable to make time, and he finished 11th. That was not good enough to breach the playoff field.
Conti, who put his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet on the outside of the second row for the start, kept his red-and-black-liveried machine in the lead pack all day long. Teaming up with Nick Ottinger, another Chevrolet driver, Conti managed to maintain position in the lead pack and raced to a relatively uneventful eighth-place finish. Conti, who closed the regular season second in points, will open the playoffs as the fourth seed on Oct. 13 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Davies finished the regular season 10th in points, 25 below the eighth and final playoff spot.
Brandon Hayse Kettelle earned his first career victory in the race, topping Eric J. Smith at the line as the field crossed in a bunch. Bob Bryant was third, with Bobby Zelenski and Jimmy Mullis rounding out the top five. Mullis’ finish was enough to propel him into the playoffs, as Logan Clampitt’s late crash sealed the deal.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will take next week off before heading to the Roval at Charlotte on Oct. 13. Coverage of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will be shown on eNASCAR.com and twitch.tv/iracing.
Michael Conti, driver No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“It’s been a while since we brought the No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevy home in one piece at a plate track, so I'll take it. Obviously, the goal tonight was to win, but we really never had the right opportunity to put the car out front and control the race. I can't thank Nick (Ottinger) enough for all of his help tonight. Unlike real-world Cup Series plate races, manufacturer teamwork really isn't common in the Coke Series, but with a long history of racing together, Nick and I are very comfortable working with each other and are best when paired up. We worked together all night and almost had a shot at getting a win at the end, but unfortunately, both of us were too hot to make any big moves. Heading into the Roval, we know that we have not a little, but a lot of work to do to beat Bobby (Zalenski), but we've got a few things up our sleeve that may get us enough of a boost in pace to contend.”
Brad Davies, driver No. 88 TrueTimber® Camo JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“It was a solid night for the No. 88 TrueTimber Chevy Camaro ZL1. We needed a lot of help from a couple of other teams to be able to sneak into the playoffs but it just wasn’t meant to be. We still ran well tonight and I’m proud of the efforts but once the pack gets settled in, running three-wide, 10 rows deep, it becomes nearly impossible to make any headway. Also really proud of our JRM teammate Michael Conti for making the playoffs and finishing second in points. For us, the pressure is off so we can stop points racing and just focus on going for some wins in the final four races. In two weeks we’ll be back at Charlotte Motor Speedway to run the road course.”